Quoting: Trevor31lv
Even worse, it's 7 of 8 cause they traded that 4th to get his rights.
Your point about Campbell is fair, but I think it's really only applicable to Edmonton's POV. Like, it only makes sense to trade so much to get out of him since they can also buy out. I'd argue the cost for another team to take it on willingly and either buy out themselves or let it run out is much higher and closer to the 2 1sts I said though, because they're willingly hamstringing themselves at that point, and the cost for that is much higher than the cost the team already in the situation will pay to get out, if that makes sense.
My bad there, yeah 7/8 years retaining is unthinkable.
And yeah, that makes sense for Campbell. It really depends on the team, if Montreal (a team with deep pockets and still a year or two away from really competing) was willing to take him on and buy him out, it might be worth it to them for a first. For a team like Columbus, a team that's got shallow pockets and arguably delusions of competing now....the price to do that would be a couple of firsts. For EDM, it's opportunity cost. Those firsts are critical for upgrading other parts of the roster for each run, so they're not going to spend such a significant asset when the buyout option is more attractive.